Para-phenylenediamine (PPD) is a major component of hair coloring and black henna products. Although it has been largely demonstrated that PPD induces allergic reactions and increases the risk of tumors in the kidney, liver, thyroid gland and urinary bladder, the effect on dermal papilla cells remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the current study evaluated the effects of PPD on growth, cell death and senescence using cell-based assays and microRNA (miRNA) microarray in normal human hair dermal papilla cells (nHHDPCs). Cell viability and cell cycle analyses demonstrated that PPD exhibited a significant cytotoxic effect on nHHDPCs through inducing cell death and G2 phase cell cycle arrest in a dose-dependent manner. It was additionally observed that treatment of nHHDPCs with PPD induced cellular senescence by promoting cellular oxidative stress. In addition, the results of the current study indicated that these PPD-mediated effects were involved in the alteration of miRNA expression profiles. Treatment of nHHDPCs with PPD altered the expression levels of 74 miRNAs by ≥ 2-fold (16 upregulated and 58 downregulated miRNAs). Further bioinformatics analysis determined that these identified miRNA target genes were likely to be involved in cell growth, cell cycle arrest, cell death, senescence and the induction of oxidative stress. In conclusion, the observations of the current study suggested that PPD was able to induce several cytotoxic effects through alteration of miRNA expression levels in nHHDPCs.